When “Living” Really Means “Dead.”

If you haven’t heard of the furor over Newsweek’s story on a biblical case for gay marriage recently, you have likely been without internet access. It’s virtually impossible to miss if you check out evangelical blogs or websites. Lisa Miller, the author of the article (“Our Mutual Joy“), has appeared on radio in the last week discussing her opinions with a variety of objectors, most notably Dr. Albert Mohler, who penned his own response to Ms. Miller’s piece. [See also: Carl Trueman’s piece.] In her appearance on NPR Tuesday, she lauded what she called the “living” nature of the Bible, “its truths speak to us over 2,000 years, that we can be flexible and can say, ‘ok, what it says about slavery, we’re not going to accept that anymore.’ Interestingly, we’ve decided not also to accept what it says about divorce – which is much stronger in the New Testament than whatever it says about homosexuality . . . and it’s beautiful to look at the Bible as this living document that applies to us even as we change through history.”

Herein lies the problem if you missed it, and I think Dr. Mohler brings this out clearly enough: biblical authority. What evangelicals know as the Bible certainly is “living” and does “speak to us.” However, what Ms. Miller describes as Scripture sounds more like it is “dead” and “spoken to.” If its laws and precepts are old, passing away, and no longer relevant for today, then it is a dead document without relevance to us today. Especially when this document claims to be the living, infallible, and inspired Word of God. If it no longer dictatesto us how we are to order our lives, then it necessarily is dictated to, as in this case. Evangelicals have not discarded what the Bible says about divorce. Unfortunately, many have simply disobeyed what the Bible says about divorce. Furthermore, the issue of slavery in the New Testament is much more complicated than Ms. Miller lets on (but it doesn’t serve her rhetoric to be fair on that point).

The issue is biblical authority. The bible holds a different kind of authority for conservative evangelicals than it does for Ms. Miller’s kind. That’s where the heart of the issue is, and that’s where this debate will have to be played out if it is going to be resolved at all. As long as someone has a different standard of biblical authority, any appeals to Scripture are going to be talking past one another.

If the Bible is living and speaks to us today, then it cannot be corrected and applied on an ad hoc basis. It has to order our thinking and our lives in every way, even when that means that it steps on the toes of our cherished Western politically correct relativism.

4 Responses

FYI–the slavery argument is weak. The Bible NEVER condones slavery. It doesn’t speak out directly against it, but doesn’t condone it either.

Paul encouraged Slave owners to treat their slaves justly and fairly and even encouraged Philemon to receive Onesimus as a brother in Christ and not follow through with the traditional punishment leveled at escaped slaves–which is actually pretty radical.

The apostles were not human rights activists–they were heralds of the gospel–taking the most important message in the universe to every tribe, tongue, nation, and social status–they preached the gospel to people of every social status, including slaves, women, and Roman officials–no one was left out!

Christians in the early church had incredibly minimal social status–they faced political and social persecution–they would have utterly failed at launching a human rights campaign–so instead they launched a much more important campaign–that of taking the good news of salvation in Christ to all peoples.

Anyway, great article Tyler. Either we accept the teaching of Scripture as prescriptive or else its nothing more than a story book with no more value than Aesops Fables. Beyond that, the Bible is a lie, if it is not authoritative and inspired–because it makes those claims–if those claims are false–then the Bible lies to us.

I obviously believe that the Bible tells the truth and therefore its claims must be taken seriously as you have outlined in your article.

Tyler, I like the imagery of dead versus living! My Bible says the truth no matter what people say about it.

Drew, I liked this part of your history: “they would have utterly failed at launching a human rights campaign–so instead they launched a much more important campaign–that of taking the good news of salvation in Christ to all peoples.” That’s what I want to do.

Great post! I really enjoy reading your blog. Keep up the good work. I’ve just started a new blog that will be highlighting the dangers of the secular progressive movement (pro-gay “rights”, pro-abortion, anti-religious freedoms, etc). Unfortunately, most Christians still don’t know what’s going on out there and the mainstream media certainly isn’t covering it.

We’re looking to build a solid group of social conservatives who’ll frequent our site regularly and contribute to some good discussions. I hope you’ll check us out!